The Underworld movies have a loyal following but I’ve never quite got into it save for Kate Beckinsale, her costume design and the all around production design. In regards to this set, it is identical to the one released a couple years back except for a 3-part anime series. If you don’t already own the other set, it’s a cheap pick-up for three movies that have excellent audio and videos transfers and a good selection of features to keep you busy.
Underworld Trilogy: The Essential Collection (2003-09)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Action, Horror, Suspense, Fantasy
Sony | Unrated/R/R – 331 min. – $45.99 | December 20, 2011
MOVIE INFO (UNDERWORLD):
Directed by: Len Wiseman
Writer(s): Kevin Grevioux and Len Wiseman & Danny McBride (story), Danny McBride (screenplay)
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Michael Sheen, Shane Brolly, Bill Nighy
Theatrical Release Date: September 19, 2003
MOVIE INFO (UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION):
Directed by: Len Wiseman
Writer(s): Kevin Grevioux and Len Wiseman & Danny McBride (characters); Len Wiseman & Danny McBride (story), Danny McBride (screenplay)
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran, Shane Brolly, Derek Jacobi, Bill Nighy
Theatrical Release Date: January 20, 2006
MOVIE INFO (UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS):
Directed by: Patrick Tatopoulos
Writer(s): Kevin Grevioux and Len Wiseman & Danny McBride (characters); Len Wiseman & Robert Orr and Danny McBride (story), Danny McBride and Dirk Blackman & Howard McCain (screenplay)
Cast: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Steven Mackintosh, Kevin Grevious
Theatrical Release Date: January 23, 2009
DISC INFO:
Features: 3 Commentaries, 10 Featurettes, Outtakes, TV Spots, 2 Music Videos, Anime Shorts, BD-Live, UltraViolet Digital Copy
Number of Discs: 4
Audio: English (PCM 5.1, Uncompressed), Italian (PCM 5.1, Uncompressed); English (Dolby TrueHD 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35/2.40
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A, B, C (Underworld 1 & 2), A only (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans)
THE MOVIE – 2.25/5
Note: Portions of this review have been copied over from previous DVD and Blu-ray reviews.
Underworld (2003) – 3.0/5
Plot Synopsis: In the Underworld, Vampires are a secret clan of modern aristocratic sophisticates whose mortal enemies are the Lycans (werewolves), a shrewd gang of street thugs who prowl the city’s underbelly. No one knows the origin of their bitter feud, but the balance of power between them turns even bloodier when a beautiful young Vampire warrior and a newly-turned Lycan with a mysterious past fall in love.
The action packed werewolves vs. vampires’ saga, Underworld, never really appealed to me even dating back to its theatrical release in 2003. I thought the then relatively unknown Kate Beckinsale looked absolutely fetching in the skin-tight Matrix-line of clothing, and for her part, Beckinsale didn’t do too bad of a job but the story was stretched a tad thin. However, I should give the screenplay/story – by actor/writer Kevin Grevioux (played Raze), director Len Wiseman and writer Danny McBride – is more involved than I had expected, so at the very least the writers’ didn’t just slouch and rely on vampire movies of the past.
As I said before about Beckinsale, she fills the main role of Selene quite well with a certain strength and vulnerability while her love interest/co-star Scott Speedman was acceptable as the man caught in the middle of the Underworld war. Personally, I’ve never though much of Speedman as an actor, given his brilliant turn as a government agent in the classic action flick, xXx: State of the Union (although one could argue he gave the better performance of that entire cast).
Overall, Underworld is a mildly entertaining movie that does kind of meander through a story that probably could’ve been told better, but between Beckinsale’s hotness and a nice, though too short, appearance by Bill Nighy, the movie might be worthwhile for fans of these dark vampire stories (I still prefer “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” myself). However, this being now my third time seeing it (theaters, DVD and BD), I still couldn’t really get into it as much as I had liked. That said, I still can appreciate some of the visual flair and Matrix influences, so it’s not a complete loss.
Underworld: Evolution (2006) – 2.75/5
Plot Synopsis: The saga continues as the battle rages on between the aristocratic Death Dealers (vampires) and the barbaric Lycans (werewolves). The film traces the beginnings of the ancient feud between the two tribes as the beautiful vampire heroine Selene (KATE BECKINSALE) discovers that she has been betrayed by her own kind and must seek revenge. The fast-paced, modern-day tale of deadly action, ruthless intrigue and forbidden love takes them into the battle to end all wars as the immortals must finally face their retribution.
Underworld: Evolution picks up where the first ended: Selene and Michael (SCOTT SPEEDMAN) have escaped death with the death of a vampire elder (BILL NIGHY) and the conspiracy between the Death Dealers and Lycans broken open. Selene discovered that her family had been killed by a man she trusted and Michael becomes a hybrid, someone with potentially unlimited powers.
As far as sequels go, Underworld: Evolution isn’t too bad of a film, but it is basically a live-action video game with a hot hybrid-vampire sex scene thrown in for good measure (*note to self: doc one star for lack of nudity for Beckinsale). Basically it’s one ho-hum action sequence with a few minutes to allow the audience to get their breath back and then some more action that will numb the very core of your soul. Ok, not that bad and I’ll admit some of it was thrilling, just not enough for me to really enjoy the movie as a whole.
There’s not much of a plot either with the first movie introducing us to this alternate world while this one expands on it a little more with an added element of a Cain and Abel-esque storyline. You see, William (BRIAN STEELE) is a powerful vampire while his brother is an out-of-control werewolf, the first of his kind and one that cannot take human form. Their father is the beginning of it all and a man conflicted with his sons’ behavior and the feud that had dragged on for centuries.
Underworld: Evolution isn’t a great movie but fans of the original will no doubt have a blast with the vampire/werewolf storyline and some decent special effects (though early on, it was definitely not pretty). The main reason I wanted to watch it was for the lovely Kate Beckinsale and she does not disappoint (she and her, um, tight outfit).
The movie features minor appearances by Bill Nighy (Viktor), Michael Sheen (Lucian) and Shane Brolly (Kraven) and also co-stars Tony Curran, an underutilized Derek Jacobi and Brian Steele.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) – 1.0/5
Rise of the Lycans deals with the back history of why Lucian (Michael Sheen), king of the Lycans, has so much hatred for Viktor (Bill Nighy), king of the Vampires. These events happen prior to the first two films in the Underworld Series, a fact which I didn’t figure out until the movie ended.
Viktor is in charge of getting rid of the were-wolf creatures of the world, called Lycan, but one day he sees a child near the prison cells where they are caged. He takes the child, and rather than killing it, he chooses to raise it as his own and names it Lucian. Lucian serves under Viktor as payment for saving his life, and is quickly seen as his favorite which is frowned upon by the other vampires and the elders for having a Lycan in such close range. However all Lycans, regardless if they are servants or prisoners, must wear a collar that prevents them from going into were-wolf mode. Lucian is a devoted servant to Viktor, and saves the lives of a carriage under attack once he grows up. Another hunter comes in by the name of Sonja (Rhona Mitra), who is Viktor’s daughter, and scolds Lucian for saving her life.
Back at the castle Lucian intervenes to sort of save the life of a Lycan being beaten to death by a vampire, and gains the respect of the other Lycan for doing so. The council has a meeting and decides that Lucian should become head of the Lycan army, and control them to make them do what the council ultimately wants. Since he already has trust among them, it shouldn’t be too hard to manipulate them to do their bidding. Viktor doesn’t want to do so, for fear of Lucian coming into harm’s way, but reluctantly agrees to do so.
I hated this movie. The series is supposed to be about action and fighting, but this one takes it to a stupid level that boggled my mind. The action sequences are needlessly violent and bloody, and don’t really add anything to the movie. The characters are also poorly developed, as Lucian is such a wuss in the movie and Sonja is too. The final battle between Lucian and Viktor is also heavily disappointing and lasts thirty seconds before an abrupt ending that doesn’t make sense. This is a horrible addition to the trilogy, and hopefully ends the saga that was great but doesn’t need to go on.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.75/5
Underworld (2003) – 4.0/5
All features from the “2-Disc Unrated Extended Cut” DVD are also available on this Blu-ray.
First up is a lively and informative feature commentary with director Len Wiseman and stars Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman (who leaves before the end). The track is actually not bad especially because Wiseman and Beckinsale are married and they delve a little into the personal relationship in regards to Beckinsale and ex-husband, Michael Sheen.
Fang vs. Fiction Documentary (47:18) – This is a look at the real life possibilities of werewolves (including interviews with those who purport to be real werewolves) and vampires and the historical look at their rivalry.
We have 7 half-decent featurettes: Making of Underworld (13:02) is pretty good when they’re not showing long clips in between the cast and crew talking about the plot or their characters; Visual Effects of Underworld (9:56) tackles the effects used on the film; Creature Effects () on making the Lycan monster costumes and getting the movements just right; Stunts (11:42) covers, well, the stunt work done on the film; Designing Underworld (10:46) is about the movie’s production design; while The Look of Underworld (19:11) is about the visual gritty design/style of the movie; and finally Sights + Sounds of Underworld (9:07) is just some random camcorder video on and off the set.
The Blu-ray also includes some outtakes (3:43), storyboard comparisons (6:42) and a music video (2:45).
Underworld: Evolution (2006) – 4.0/5
Audio Commentary features director Len Wiseman, production/creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos, Editor Nicolas De Toth and second unit director Brad Martin.
The Blu-ray also has 6 featurettes (nearly 70-minutes worth), all of which cover the same sort of ground as the original Underworld, so I’ll just do a brief breakdown on each:
The Hybrid Theory (13:00) covers the visual effects on the film and how there were so much more than the original.
The War Rages On (9:54) is about the stunt work done with more sound bites from the cast and crew explaining the intricacies of some of the stunts as well as how the first movie prepared them better.
Bloodlines: From Script to Screen (13:26) is an all-encompassing featurettes on how the sequel came about as writer/director Len Wiseman had more story to tell that could not fit in one movie.
Making Monsters Roar (11:56) is the creatures featurette on designing the monsters this time around and trying to distinguish certain ones from the others.
Building a Saga (12:57) is about the production design and how the locations were far different from the original leaving behind the gothic city look with the dark countryside with creepy castles.
Lastly, Music and Mayhem goes over the score and sound effects on the film.
Also, the Blu-ray includes a music video (3:54).
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) – 3.5/5
Filmmakers’ Commentary: Tatopoulos, and the producers of the film join together for the movie’s lone commentary. I couldn’t really understand one of the commentators, and he talked often, so that probably didn’t help much. The rest of the crew discuss about some of the scenes in detail as well as the actors. It’s decent, but not something I’d ever listen to again.
Behind the Castle Walls: Picture-in-Picture – This PiP feature allows the viewer to get some tid-bits on making the film, behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast and crew members. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
Lycanthropes: Around the World – Interactive Map – A feature where you can check out a map with more bits of trivia about werewolves. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
Cinechat is an outdated feature where you can chat with friends as you watch the movie. I’m shocked this never caught on… ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
From Script to Screen (9 minutes): The crew talk about rushing production of the film due to the actor’s time frame among other problems. This film was rushed?
Origin of the Feud (20 minutes): This dives deeper into the history of Lucian and Sonja, as well as history of the film overall. Since I didn’t enjoy the movie at all I found it to be trivial and not that entertaining. If you were a fan of it, then be sure to watch this.
Re-Creating the Dark Ages (13 minutes): The director and other crewmates talk about creating some of the scenery as well as the costumes that the cast wore during the movie. I’m a fan of the medieval times era, so this was interesting to me.
Music Video: “Deathclub” (4 minutes): It’s sad when the best special feature lies within the music video for the film. This is a great tune that caused me to go out and buy the soundtrack to the movie, which sounds awesome. One thing that the Underworld movies have never lacked is an excellent soundtrack. Needless to say, the tune is addicting and the video is cool.
Last up is a BD-Live portal. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
Bonus Disc:
Underworld: Endless War: Anime Shorts (17:26; HD) – This is a three-part series chronicling the further story of the war between Vampires and Lycans. I’m not big on anime but this isn’t too bad and serves as a bridge between Evolution and the upcoming Awakening.
I should note this is the only new feature in this set, everything else is identical to the previously released trilogy. Also included is an UltraViolet Digital Copy download code for all three movies.
VIDEO – 4.25/5
Underworld (2003) – 3.75/5
As you very well may know, Underworld is a dark movie and probably done on a relatively low budget ($22 million according to boxofficemojo.com), there’s quite a bit of noise during the dark scenes and I did tend to notice some bits of grain every once in a while. It’s not a bad picture with nice looking skin tones, decent colors and some nice detail on clothing and faces, but black levels were very inconsistent from one scene to another and still parts of the film looked too soft. I think if any film on Blu-ray needed a quick go-over (no DNR!), this would be one. But overall, the 1080p high-def transfer probably is better than the DVD.
Underworld Evolution (2006) – 4.5/5
The sequel looks excellent in 1080p high-def. Although I did notice the occasional artifacting during darker scenes but overall it’s still a nice looking video transfer with solid black levels and skin tones and other colors spot on. Obviously this is a dark film so I was impressed with it as you still get a good amount of detail in spite of how every scene is set during the night.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) – 4.75/5
The third entry probably looks the best with a fine amount of natural film noise and great detail levels throughout. The black levels, for which there’s plenty to judge, is quite good as well never showing off any pixilation or artifacting. All in all, it’s a very good transfer.
AUDIO – 4.5/5
Underworld (2003) – 4.75/5
On the other hand, the audio quality was, in short, amazing. The Uncompressed PCM 5.1 track sounds absolutely fantastic, between the clean dialogue levels from the center channel to Paul Haslinger’s underrated score cleanly coming out of the other channels. And remember, this is an action movie and the few sequences sound great giving off that theater experience I always want from home video viewing, but often rarely heard. Heck, even the Dolby Digital 5.1 track (which the disc defaults on) was quite aggressive, especially with my subwoofer.
Underworld: Evolution (2006) – 4.5/5
As with the audio experience on the original Underworld, the Uncompressed PCM 5.1 track is just as impressive and even though there were a couple times the dialogue wasn’t up to par, on the whole, this is one hell of an audio track that will have your theater room shaking between Marco Beltrami’s haunting, if not uneven, score and the many explosions or action sequences. Every channel will be used to its fullest extent so you are getting an immersive experience.
Underworld: Rise of Lycans (2009) – 4.5/5
This disc gets a quality Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track which nicely shows off the action sequences along with the quieter, more dialogue-driven moments all the same. The LFE channels, as with the other movies, gets a good kick every so often providing some good depth to a fine lossless track.
OVERALL – 3.5/5
Overall, the Underworld movies have a loyal following but I’ve never quite got into it save for Kate Beckinsale, her costume design and the all around production design. In regards to this set, it is identical to the one released a couple years back except for a 3-part anime series. If you don’t already own the other set, it’s a cheap pick-up for three movies that have excellent audio and videos transfers and a good selection of features to keep you busy.
Tyler Thomas/Brian Oliver
Published: 12/24/2011
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.